This old boat .... kicks Halibut

[Pilar]

Limits all 3 days, stop. ? nasty north wind chop last day stop Total poundage breaks down as follows stop

Thursday .. Mr F. 36", Baitboy 39", Pilar 51" stop

Friday .. Bait o' Eggs 51", Pilar 41" stop

Friday .. Queen of Halibut (Janis) 48", Skein, YES!, boat record, yes Fifty four inches and 78 pounds on a salmon rod, Pilar 45" stop Pictures soon, S.E.G. and sunburns all around stop

Faithfully yours, embedded reporter on the front lines of the war on Flat fish , PILAR stop

[ 05-12-2003, 11:01 AM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[Orca]

Awesome! And I understand Saturday was pretty rough and limits were few - way to keep the pressure on them bottom dwellers.

[Miss B Haven]

[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

Hey- what happened to Jen?

[ 05-11-2003, 07:59 PM: Message edited by: Miss B Haven ]

[Captn]

Oh, John, sometimes you kill me. Glad you were able to fish your little fingers to the bone. Still getting some upgrading done. Should be moored at S. Beach in about 2 weeks or so. I may need an introductory course. Looking forward to fishing with you guys.
Mike G.

[HOGGEMIN]

Good job John can't wait till next week!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OceanBlue]

All Hail the Halibut Queen!

[skein]

Hey, Johnboy,

You get four thumbs up!!! Great time and YOU DA MAN! Janis and I had a great time, both out on the blue and in camp with that whole troop of Ifish Salties.

So what if my kidneys feel like they got used in a racketball tournament. So what if my retinas are separated and I've got sore places all over my body. So what if Fishplay left the cheap beer for us (instead of the Corona).

It was one of those trips that make the kind of memories a person takes out over the years and and raises a toast to with a glass of his finest. I may never get the smile off Janis' face. All she talked about on the home was boats, so the smile might not come off my face, either.

Good weekend - good time - good people.

Skein

[OceanBlue]

Mel, I was on the beach with the kids... I get to fish next Saturday (maybe) I've got your tuna hooks, man. And Rod's too.


WHO said BOE would do WHAT to ocean fishing?!




He even got to play with my friends!


Bad fish!


What a sacrifice! Thanks for dinner!


Here ya go Jim...


[ 05-11-2003, 09:15 PM: Message edited by: Pilar's Mate ]

[Bait O' Eggs]

That boat does kick some but. But I think mostly because the captain adapts to the situation at hand. I had a great time on a mini vacation in Newport.

Got to fish camp Thursday evening and hung out till midnight, got up at 4 am to go fishing. dropped the shrimpless pot on the way to the chicken ranch. Only jarred a couple teeth loose on the ride. It took next to no time to hook into fish. After tossing three undersized chickens back I finally hooked into a nice fish, went 54lbs on the scales. One of those chickens was being pestered on the way up by a 7 ft shark. I thought Pilar was going to harpoon the shark when it got to the boat but he was concerned the mako would rip a corner off the boat trying to get away. :shocked:

After another night of 4 hours sleep, I fished with Mr. Fisherman on Saturday, after Pilar radioed the technique that was working, I swithed up and got into a 42 inch fish. I still think his lucky butt charm (that didnt sound so good did it ) skeins wife, was the ticket, she was putting on a clinic at sea and those that paid attention learned a bit.

Came home with little to no sleep and met several other ifishers and had a great time fishing.

The chicken ranch looked a bit like OC when the springers are in, but the crowd was just way nicer. :smile:

Things learned
1. Dont let Pilar gaff a fish
2. Dont let Pilar net a fish
3. Check harpoon before Pilar uses it

ya theres a few stories there but they can wait till another day.

Thanks to all, for the memories

[ 05-12-2003, 08:57 AM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[bait boy]

I'll get my pics in here too.

one of the great things we saw out on the water.

Courtesy of Mr Fishermans fishy boat



AND as always that mighty vessel Pilar gets the last laugh



Good times as always had by all...Thanks for taking me John and Ray. Good boats are hard to find...

[corkyking]

It just occured to me that a fella doesn't want to shoot the Halibut after it's in the boat. :tongue:

[Mr. Fisherman]

Yes this old boat kicks SERIOUS BUT!
I love that boat and I love my boat too. What a pleasure sharing the water with you again this weekend. I appreciate the ride and the help troubleshooting my motor. That goes for Keta too.
I hope I am able to return the favor.
If you look close at the second pic of Bait Boy's fish it was bit on the way up by something... from the looks of the bite it wouldn't have been a change up but it sure did add to the battle.
Thanks to Johnboy and his teachings I was able to limit my boat day 2 and put fish in the boat day three when lots of other boats had problems. Thanks Bro', you're the greatest!

[Pilar]

And now for the rest of the story.

Captains Log F/V 'PILAR'

Day One, Wednesday May 7, 2003
Drove to Newport, negotiated for moorage and trailer storage, slip C33 and launched the boat. Ran to the green can by the Coast Guard shack with my crew and crab pots and jigged up some bait. 4 crabs and much effort later we placed 2 out by the south jetty and retreived the rest. Met Mr. Fisherman and Baitboy and discussed the problems on 'Sea Lion'. We agreed to run 'PILAR' for Halibut Day one and return in time to repair the 'Sea Lion'' battery charging problem. Float plan for Thursday included checking weather conditions as the predictions were marginal and if possible running first to the Rockpile and then on to the Ranch for the halibut drivethru. The Rockpile was for the trip back and some lings and things. After many preparations and much fussing over the boat and carrying the gear up and down the dock I got back to Otter Rock and to sleep about midnight.

Day Two, Thursday May 8, 2003
Woke at 0400 and found the coffee. Off to the South beach Marina with the VHF handheld blaring the 0330 weather update in my ear. The ocean looked ok with no sheep and minimal wind. Not ideal but not beyond the pale. I met Ray and Rick and we charged out for a little 'but kicking festival. The new trim tabs gave us the control to get a ride at 20+ mph and we made the Ranch in 80 minutes flat, arriving at 0745. We commenced the first of many drifts using 4 lbs of lead at first but changing up to 3 lbs as the drift was not bad.

Rick and I got our fish and Ray was a little green and feeling bad as he lost his scope patch in the night. To be fair the drift was pretty choppy. Ray finally hooked up and we went in. We used Herring (fresh), sardines and rockfish belly. I bagged a 51" fish we did not later weigh, Baitboy got the 39" and Ray took a 36". Not bad considering all of the reports of chicken sized flatties at the ranch. We finished at a place I now call 'Triple' at the northwest edge of the pack in 600 feet of water with 3 FB's on at once. 2 undersized and one legal. Ray improved miraculously on hooking his fish. He was even smiling once in a while. The man has the heart of a lion. He often gets sea sick and loves the offshore fishing so much that he goes anyway, often suffering greatly as a result. We returned to find a few drifts at the rockpile and 2 crabtraps loaded with females and dime sized crabs. The gear was retrieved and brought back in. I am so done with Yaquina bay crabbing. After dropping off Ray and getting Keta to clean fish Baitboy went out for more bait. I went to the Englunds with Keta and tried to buy a new seat to replace the one broken by a guy falling on it. We settled for some plywood scraps, screws and big smiles as the folks at Englunds bent over backwards to help us. They made a whole 3 or 4 bucks for their troubles but I have many good words to say about them. After fish cleaning and boat repairs. Keta fixed Ray's boat by cleaning up some corroded wiring.

We returned late to the cabin and cooked some crab, sorted gear and went to sleep about 11 this time. I went to sleep thinking that 0400 comes way too soon.

Day Three, Friday May 9, 2003
Woke late at 0430 replaced a lost fishing license at the marina store and got to the boat by 0533. I never heard the alarm go off, I must have been tired or something. I then learned that the third guy had jumped ship to join 'Puffin' for the day. The fact that he committed to be on my boat some four weeks earlier evidently never crossed his mind. And unlike the other guy, Southpaw that let me know he could not make it 3 days prior, I got no notice at all from 'Puffin's Crew'. Someone else told me he was on another boat. No show, no call, you're fired! Bait O Eggs, gladly took that seat from Southpaw and had a ball that day. The seat abandoned by mutinous Tom did not get filled as I got like no notice at all and I apologize to any who got turned down in favor of what turned out to be a no show. Things happen but the people who got turned down for the trip so you could go, Tom are pretty dissapointed. As I explained to you later that day at sea, if the phone does not ring don't be surprised.

Anyway, Bait and I went out about 0600 to pretty much the same ocean we saw the day before but somewhat improved. Bait had ginned up a prototype shrimp trap we dropped west of the Rockpile in 300 feet of water. This spot was given by Bait on the advice of his friend the commercial shrimper. We continued on to the ranch. We arrived there about 0815 and started fishing. We drifted many times and had meager results. One fish came up closely attended by a 7' long Mako shark. I toyed with the idea of spearing it and then changed my mind when I realized how short the line was on the harpoon. Roy finally got into a 51" fish and we boated it. I got a 41" fish just a short time later. It was a real heady feeling limiting the boat for the second day in a row. There were alot of Ifish and salty dog flags at the hole. It was good to see the dogs flying thier colors. I would have flown mine but for the second time the flag was ripped off the radio mast by the wind and lost and I was flagless for the whole derby. We returned to the pile after photos of Stuygen Princess in the red Alumiweld and my pals in the 'Sea Lion' in action.

On the way in we photoed a pod of dolphins playing and jumping all around the boat. I caught a glimpse of a very strange sight out of the corner of my eye. It was not a dolphin. I saw it again and was amazed to see a sea lion pup about a hundred pounds leap straight up into the air, while frantically searching for a place to hide. He spotted us and came right over repeating the spy hop and sizing up 'PILAR' for suitability as a hiding spot from the dolphins. He spy hopped one more time right next to the boat and then dissapeared. I guess the Dolphins were playing football and the pup was the ball. He looked pretty desperate to get away.

We got back to the shrimp pot and learned about using an anchor puller on a shrimp pot. We caught Nada. I think the spot is the problem and we will try the crack between the piles on the next go. I called into the beach to let my mate know what was going on and we drifted the north end of the pile, while the shrimp pot soaked in a new spot. We caught lings. The sail jellyfish were everywhere in huge rafts at the pile. We returned to the bay victorious and jigged up enough bait for 'Sea Lion' and 'Pilar' for the last day. After much bragging, fish cleaning and comraderie we went back to the beach house for the mandatory 4 hours sleep. Jen fixed up a killer Chili for all hands and we ate like kings.

I consulted with my crew for Saturday, Janis and Skein, about the float plan. We decided to run to a spot on the south end of the rockpile for a fish or two. We followed another Ifish boat who very generously gave us the numbers to this previously unknown hole. I will not divulge the location on this forum out of respect to the man who shared. We would try it and then head out and do the ranch if it did not work out. We also agreed on a little later start. Maybe fish the south beach reefs until our benefactor ran out to show us the hole.

I finally got to sleep, utterly exhausted about midnight.

Day Four, Saturday May 10, 2003
Up at 0430 and off to the derby one more time. The excitement from Saturday's crew was palpable. I soon caught the adrenaline from Janis and Jim and it lasted all day. We poked around at the dock and went back to the store for the Octane booster necessary to make the 87 unleaded into the 89 my boat likes to eat. Marina gas is expensive and usually low octane. Remember to buy fuel conditioner before buying marina gas. Finally about 0630, we headed out to the new playground. I turned south at the second green can and headed for the spot called 'Pinnacles' on my GPS cheat sheet. I had planned to fish the nearshore reefs and get the bottom fish first. Also I was a little concerned about the freshening north wind and did not want to commit to the ranch before I knew the rest of that story. Something happened right after the first hard BANG! of a wave on the boat ... Janis turned and smiling said "It is soooo good to be out on the ocean". Jim smiled and agreed that it had been too long. This set the tone for the rest of the day. Ray vectored further out and
soon started to fade over the horizon. He was going right to the glory hole. Skein, Janis and I went over the compass drill I use for practice as we bent west to join Ray in his rush to the spot. The drill goes like this. 1) Punch in your destination coordinates. 2) Use Goto Waypoint to get the plastic hey zuess to lock onto your destination. 3) Get the heading from the steer screen. 4) Change the GPS over to sonar and steer the heading using ony your compass. 5) Cheat once in a while and check your progress and drift off course using the plastic hey zuess. Great practice and timely too. The time to learn is not the same as the time of need.

I decided to gamble when I got to the spot. It was shallow and mooching looked like it would work. We rigged with 16 oz trolling sinkers, a rotary salmon killer in shades of green and also chartreuse and an 80# Mono leader with (2) 9/0 Gamakatsu circle hooks in black. Tied just like an ordinary salmon leader, snelled with egg loops about 4 feet long. Add a fresh, whole Yaquina herring and you are fishing large. This rig is deadly at the pile and I thought it might work here too. We drifted to get the drift and reset on the marks. Janis scored the first fish, a 48" beauty and I could tell she was very pleased with herself.

I'll leave the Gaff fiasco for Jim to tell.

That's a story in itself. Jim admitted that this was the standard deal on Halibut when his wife was in the boat. First fish, biggest fish, most fish .. the Queen of Halibut. We considered our other option regarding the ranch but the wind kept me at bay. As much as I wanted to go to the ranch I did not. Also we talked about the 'never leave biting fish' story and got a good laugh when Mr Fisherman reminded us of that truism over the radio. We kept at it hitting lings and then a suicide fish for me. A fat 45" halibut that just buried it and ran away. I looked down to see the 9ft loomis moocher wrapped over the transom and bucking hard. He came in after a bit of a struggle. 20# mono, an old TLD shimano reel .. perfect for a 20# king, a little light for FB.

Jim was looking a bit dejected at this point. He could not buy a fish and we started to realize that none of the other boats were geting hits either. We reset a hundred yards west on each successive drift to plow new ground each time. Then Janis hooked into what looked like the bottom and then decided it was for real when the head shake kicked in. I had my mate on the cell phone and she asked 'whats going on?'. I threw the clicker lever on the reel and sent an ever increasing ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz into the cell phone for an answer. I then hung up the phone. Janis deftly handed the rod to Jim before he could protest and the battle was on. Another graphite rod with tuffline, it was outmatched by what would turn out to be the last and most special fish of the week. After much fight and struggle it loomed into view under the boat.

My eyes swam with emotion as I surveyed the huge fish ... Jim's excitement and the moment ... uh, nevermind

I sighted on him with the harpoon and hit it with both hands over my head ... the tip went clear through and popped off and I threw down the handle and grabbed the line. Oh yeah, this was no little chicken. He pulled hard, headed back down for home. I put pressure on the TUNA! cord harpoon lead and got the fish to the boat only to have the line burn through my hands several times. We subdued the monster and gaffed him into the 'PILAR. He landed on the deck with a resounding FLOP! and I knew then that the boat record had been shattered. Fifty Four inches and Seventy Eight pounds of fish and chips lay gasping on the deck.

BAP, BAP, BAP!!!!! went the fishbat. 'Bad Halibut, mess with my herring, go to your room .......' I yelled, Janis and Jim looked at me like I had lost my mind. We tried to cram the big un into the fishbox on top of the other previously huge flat fish. It barely fit.

We were so excited .... I can hardly describe the elation on the boat as all hands realized what we had done.

We returned home into the freshening north wind and dodged the sheep (whitecaps) that were multiplying as the wind blew harder. I called Jen and reported that we were coming in and to meet us for adult beverage at the Rogue pub.

The rest of this day is a blur. We returned to home base, had lunch and a beer at the Rogue brewpub. Cleaned the huge fish, visited with friends. Took Jen's kids out in the bay for herring and went back to the cabin to eat grilled halibut cheeks, Jambalaya with elk sausage, crab and other tasty treats. I went to bed much later and woke up late the next day.

I can't wait for the next rodeo. The memories from this one will be hard to beat. To all of you who fished the PILAR these past halibut days ..... Thank you, thank you, thank you. The memories are priceless and here's to friends that may last a lifetime. My hat is off to my brothers and sisters in the Salty Dogs.

Your humble embedded reporter on the front lines of the war on halibut :grin: ...... Pilar out.

[ 05-12-2003, 03:12 PM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[skein]

Hey, Bud,

You left out the part about the big fish and the twisted lines, and how you didn't hesitate to cut your line rather than risk losing that big bad boy. Good call - selfless act. Or the close-order drill you and Janis did to free the remaining line while Mr. Fish-and-Chips was heading out to sea. We can sum it up with a few lines from the "Saga of Leviathan."

He surfaced, he sounded, the black pole rebounded,
The 4/0 screamed out as if pained,
The incredible fight went three days and a night,
But ever so slowly I gained,
At the fourth morning's sun, he made his last run,
But I held him and gave him no line,
Though blistered and bleeding, my hands began feeding
The line back - I knew he was mine!

Uh...as for the gaff/harpoon/net (net???) story - stay tuned. It's worth the wait. :grin:

Johnboy, you and the Pilar have a crew anytime you've got room.

Skein and the missus

[ 05-12-2003, 03:26 PM: Message edited by: skein ]

[puffins crew]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Pilar:


Day Three, Friday May 9, 2003
Woke late at 0430 replaced a lost fishing license at the marina store and got to the boat by 0533. I never heard the alarm go off, I must have been tired or something. I then learned that the third guy had jumped ship to join 'Puffin' for the day. The fact that he committed to be on my boat some four weeks earlier evidently never crossed his mind. And unlike the other guy, Southpaw that let me know he could not make it 3 days prior, I got no notice at all from 'Puffin's Crew'. Someone else told me he was on another boat. No show, no call, you're fired! Bait O Eggs, gladly took that seat from Southpaw and had a ball that day. The seat abandoned by mutinous Tom did not get filled as I got like no notice at all and I apologize to any who got turned down in favor of what turned out to be a no show. Things happen but the people who got turned down for the trip so you could go, Tom are pretty dissapointed. As I explained to you later that day at sea, if the phone does not ring don't be surprised."


I made a BAD judgement call, and paid the price for it. The fact that I was at the dock at the predertermined time, ready to go, and no skipper should not have been a deterent to my commitment.

John, my utmost appoligies. I questioned the fishabality of your boat, after your day one adventure. I should know better.

After 14 hours on the ocean, and our biggest fish was 40 inches. Lesson learned.

If I do not get a call, I know that I brought it on myself.

Once again, my utmost appoligies.

Peace, Tom

[Pilar]

Tom, apology accepted. You know I would work all night if necessary to ensure the safety and happiness of my passengers as I have done many times before. Next time you want to bail, drop a dime and call my cell phone at the very least. I had a standby passenger on the day in question but it was too late to call him in from Salem.

If you can be there Thursday morning next you are welcome to ride with me and take a shot at the boat record which now stands at seventy eight pounds. We will be returning to the land of the whopper. I will not be using a gaff so we will actually land the fish if you get it to the boat. The harpoon works rather well.

FISH ON!

[Bait O' Eggs]

The harpoon works rather well

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv"> :tongue:

Stories to follow at a later date :tongue:

[Bounty Hunter]

Wow Pilar,

That's an awesome trip you guys had. In fact all 3 days sounded great. Congrats.

Thanks for the Herring Rig lesson and pre-rigged leader you gave me dockside. Unfortunately, we had a little boat trouble and I didn't get to try it, but it helps to have seen it first-hand. It's hard not to get excited about fishing the ocean after stories like that.

[Salmonator]

Takes a big man Tom...

[Miss B Haven]

Hmmmm.. two grown fisherman airing and resolving a disagreemant/misunderstanding in a civil and satisfactory way? :whazzup:

Only on Salty Dogs :smile:

[Pilar]

Joe, I concur. Tom is just about my favorite companion on the boat with one notable exception and it was pretty dissapointing to not get a chance to get him into some fish Friday.

You are a better man than me Tom.

All I could do for the last few days was be angry, while you ate the raisin pie and solved the problem.

[CATCH AND EAT]

John, you were a brave man to have Roy aboard. Congrats Roy on the nice halibut. Sounds like you folks had an awesome time. Not only that but you will have some great eats.

[Stoyjun Princess]

Thanks John for getting us into the halibut Friday. You guys rock!! We brought up 6 halibut with two nice keepers. :grin: fun day.
Greg thanks you as well. Maybe we will see you out there next weekend.

[Pilar]

Catch and Eat, for the record Roy has no effect on the bite in the Ocean. One explanation for this is the bozon theory. Bozons are particles which have apparent mass and travel at the speed of light. They exhibit the properties of both massive objects and electromagnetic radiation. The main properties of Bozons is bad luck or more generally entropy which is the tendency of things to fall apart.

When you drop the open tackle box the gear scatters across the floor. Bozon flux is responsible for this effect. Bozons are attenuated by conductive liquids like seawater.

So, BOE emits bozons which shut down the bite on the river. The river water has low conductivity and the bozon flux is not attenuated. But happily the ocean and salt water completely absorb the excess bozons and BOE can catch fish. Add to this the fact that BOE has to try much harder because of his handicap and he is pretty dang good at fishing when the handicap is removed by close proximity to seawater.

Make sense?

When you have a minute have me explain Darkon theory and it's relation to the black ends on burned out flourescent lamps. :grin:

[Fishplay]

Dude your average was killer. I thought I had me a biggen like that 78lber the first day but it turned out to be a double. The 39" I kept and a 31# got sent back to momma. Those 2 hook dropper rigs can be murder!!

I'm retiring the sled from Hali fishing. Will be working on the new boat this weekend but would fill an open seat if one came up for Thursday.

It was a very good choice to fish inside Saturday. Keta brought the sheep with him from KFalls and the experience cured me from ever wanting to run that far and that hard in Fishplay again!!!

[Pilar]

Fishplay, the ride is better with the new trim tabs. You would be amazed. If the open seat comes up for Thursday I'll call you as soon as I know. I'd like to see your new boat, what is it called?

The high average came from carefully choosing my fishing partners. With the exception of the first day, I did not get the big fish, my crew did. Well maybe there was a little luck involved.

[Bankbound]

What a group...Pilar, the fisherman I want to grow up and become.

I have said it before and I'll say it again. The salty dogs rock! "The loving ends where the fishing begins" cannot be farther from the truth here. I , [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] and also to the wonderful world that is "Salty Dogs".

Darkon theory...had me laughing for ten minutes I kid you not!!!!!

MH (the aspiring to be a salty dog)

[Fishplay]

John, it's a 28ft Thunderbird tri-hull with a custom hardtop.

You remember the flipper movie? Same boat only bigger. Made in Florida. It has a 10ft beam and weighs 10,0000lbs.

Sucker won't even fit through the doors of my shop.

You won't believe the deck space.

[Chum King]

Pilar,

Thanks for the detailed update both on the days fishing and the "bozons". I ran with a friend to the Pile Saturday in his 17' Whaler with only lings to show, and a very long wet return ride.

Congrats, and here's hoping you guys get another week of reasonable weather. Of course the tides are gnarly this week.

Chum King

[Birdnest]

Pilar,

That was fun read, thanks. Maybe I should bring my boat down and have you lay hands on her or maybe bless her, something.

Respectfuly,

Birdnest